Wasted $150 on a disabled parking placard renewal service scam

I almost paid a third party website $150 to renew my disabled parking placard in California... then I found out the DMV only charges like $6 or something for the same thing. They make the site look official with logos and everything. I caught myself right before hitting submit when I noticed a tiny disclaimer at the bottom that said they're not affiliated with DMV. Has anyone else almost gotten tricked by those scam sites?

2 comments

2 Comments

andrewh431mo ago

God, yeah, I've seen those sites everywhere and they're so predatory. In my experience, the best thing to do is always just search for the actual DMV website directly, not through a search ad. Those paid ads are usually the scammy middleman sites. I'd recommend you just book mark the official DMV page for placards so you never get tricked again. Take this with a grain of salt but I've also heard people report those sites to the state attorney general's office and actually get results. Your mileage may vary but it might be worth filing a complaint if you already paid.

the_henry1mo ago

Honestly, I used to think those paid ads were just shortcuts, like paying a little extra for convenience. But your point about the state attorney general's office is the part that got me. I had a buddy who fell for one of those placard sites, paid $40 for a form he could have gotten for free, and he actually complained to the AG. They looked into it and the site shut down a few months later. That changed my mind completely. Now I just type "DMV handicapped placard [my state]" into the search bar and skip everything with an "Ad" label.